10 Pounds Down! (40 to go)

Stepped on the scale this morning and I'm now at 180!  Yeeehaaa!
I'm enjoying it while it lasts!  I know the pounds melt off quick and I'll hit a plateau after the first 15 to 20... but hey!  10 pounds less is 10 pounds less!  I'm excited!
And not to be TMI here, but I also received my monthly visit from "Aunt Flow" and I still feel skinnier than ever!  That being said, cramps are making me want to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head!

This is one of those days where a little encouragement would go a long way!

I've already slipped and allowed myself a coke this morning with my Atkins bar.  I never said I would quit coke, I just didn't want it until now.  Once this case is gone though, I'm not buying any more!  I can't have it in the house!  Some might wonder, why not just drink diet?  Well, the fake sugar/poison freaks me out more than being fat, sugar or calories!

Anyhow, all is not lost!  The day is ahead of me... and I intend on eating right the rest of the day... and moving my butt even if it's just cleaning the house!  Trust me, it needs it and it is a work out in itself!

We're having 25 people over on Friday for a Sham-Rock and Roll Dance Party, Woot, woot!!  I'm just gonna put this out here right now, St. Paddy's day... is my free pass day!  I have got to cut lose and have some fun at this party!  I will eat something sweet and something with carbs!  And the next day, the babysitter is coming... so you can bet your buttermilk I'll be drinking some green beer!  Jeff and I agreed to this before we started this whole thing, but I just realized last night I failed to inform you all.  Because let's face it, sometimes you just have to cut lose and enjoy life or else what's the point, right?!

For Christmas Santa brought me Pole Dancing classes!  No, I have no intentions of being a stripper or starting a new profession.... but a while back I took a free class and let me tell you!  My entire body was sore for a week!  It's an intense, all body (fun) workout!  I'm recruiting a couple girlfriends to go with me... so that should be fun!  :)   I'm just hoping it goes how I imagine... which is something like this:

and not like this:

and on that note, have a great day! :)

6 Pounds Down, 44 To Go!!

So I'm not sure if you've heard about the recent solar flares?  Pretty wild!  I know it's kind of a scary thing... messes up technology and what not.... but honestly, this small one I feel was just God's way of saying "GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND GO ENJOY THE HEAT!"  :)
So, we did!

Yesterday was gorgeous!  We had a high of 58!  It was really windy, but not bad enough to keep us in!
I paused in the morning, before getting dressed.  Instead of grabbing jeans.... I opted for a track suit.  And instead of my easy slip on clogs... I opted to sit down and lace up some athletic shoes.  I wore them all day.
Here's what I realized.  If I "Dress for Success" it goes a long way in helping me reach it!  I had an extra bounce in my step from the shoes... reminding me constantly through out my day of my goal.  So instead of bending from the waist to grab that thing off the floor... I would bend from the knees instead.  Instead of standing around waiting for my second child to get out of school.... they get out 5 minutes apart, my middle child and I ran laps around the basketball courts.  I would guess we put a good 400 meters in,  I would know for sure once I figure out how to use this fancy new pedometer watch.  He's faster than me, by the way... my 4 year old.
When we got home.... we played outside for nearly 2 hours!  While I couldn't really 'run' with 3 kids in tow, I sure got a lot of exercise anyhow!  Running up and down the street pulling little sis in the wagon.  Brothers followed on their bikes.  I would guess another 1400 meters... so a little over a mile.  Not a big deal... but beats doing nothing at all.  AND, my kids were THRILLED to have happy, energetic, plays-with-us Mom, instead of fat-lazy-sit-on-her-butt  and watch from a chair Mom!  The neighborhood kids (and Mom's) appreciated it too since I was pretty much playing (and supervising) with their kids as well.
I'm still recovering from this nasty cold... so it was good not to push it but still do something!

For lunch I ate one of my oldest and most favorite dishes.  If my sister, Christine or my oldest best friend Joy are reading this, they'll testify that this has been one of our most favorite meals since we were kids!
The positives are that it is quick, cheap and easy to make.  It is also very healthy and boasts 11 grams of Protein!
The negatives are that it includes salt, just not the same with out it... which can make you swell and the lemon juice can take the enamel off your teeth if you have too much.  Also, it's not a good idea to eat too much of the Tuna, because of the mercury.

So here it is:  Iceberg lettuce, one can of tuna in water, drained on top the lettuce... sprinkle with lemon juice and salt to taste!  Have at it!  Delish!  This will never work for my husband however, he hates tuna!

For breakfast I had an Atkins bar.  It was... ok.  Filled me up, surprisingly.  16 grams of protein and 10 grams of fat.  I didn't read much else, told you I have a hard time caring about this stuff... and I certainly don't want to become a maniac about counting calories... but somewhere in the middle around AWARE is good for me!
For dinner, I made the kids lasagna and pumpkin pie for dessert... I picked the cheese and pasta off and just ate the meat and sauce.  No pie for mama!  I wasn't really hungry, maybe my stomach shrunk with this cold, food isn't as fun when you can't taste it so it's been easy to start the diet part while sick!
I also started taking a multi vitamin again, and it made a real difference in my mid day (3pm) slump!
I've been caffeine free for 3 days!  Drinking TONS of water, and so thirsty!  I noticed I'm sweating a lot too, and urinating often.  I think it's the excess urea from all the protein.

I weighed myself last night for the first time in a week, and I'm down 6 pounds!  184!  That's nearly a pound a day!  Never thought I'd be excited about being 184... but it's 6 pounds closer to my goal!
Can I getta WOOP, WOOP!!  :)

(sorry it's sideways I couldn't get it to stay flipped.)

Your Stomach Is Not A Wastebasket!

This is my new mantra, I found this quote on Pinterest and love it!  Along with another one that says "the food you eat can either be your most toxic poison, or your best medicine."

But damn, those fries look gooooooood!  UGH!

"My stomach is not a wastebasket and therefore I should keep the garbage out!"
Repeat 20X to self!

I don't have much experience with dieting and I'm not sure I subscribe to 'dieting' at all.

I think it's important for our body to have all that it needs and when I deprive myself of anything I immediately want it that much more!

I also believe that cravings are important to acknowledge.  It's our bodies way of telling us what we need.  For instance, I crave salty pickles or olives when I'm dehydrated.  I believe this is because the salt makes me thirsty and eventually my body will get what it needs, which is water!  My body may be saying, you need an olive?  Maybe?  I'm not really sure... let's be clear, I'm no expert!
But I've found that if I skip the salt and drink a glass of water instead.  The craving usually goes away.  So it would really be awesome to hear from people if they've ever experienced anything similar... or I wonder if anything has ever been written up or proven on this theory?  I'm sure if we could decipher the code of our cravings we could give our body what it needs and avoid what it doesn't, so much easier!
As another example, do I really need ice cream, when my body just needs Vitamin D?  Couldn't I instead eat a non fat yogurt or vegetables rich in Vitamin D?  (I'm not a milk drinker, so that wouldn't work).  But you see what I'm saying!?

This whole blog is going to be all over the place... I'm not going to pick any one diet or exercise program to do, because let's face it... I'm a girl who hates routine, has no concept of time and can't stick to things or as my loved one's have put it... finish things!  So in order to insure a successful outcome for myself, I'm going to be flexible with myself and allow for a ton of trial and error... and hopefully, eventually success!
If I never give up, success will be inevitable right!?  So I'm going to do all I can to make it easier on myself to NOT give up but instead SUCCEED!!

"All things in Moderation" as my Mother would say!  And for most of my life that theory has been true... and it will be again one day once I reach my target weight!

But it's clear, that my 50 pound weight gain will require much more than 'moderation' to go away!
Try DETERMINATION!  And let's face it, sacrifice!

AND, maybe even some dieting?!

For the first time in my life I am going to try, dieting.  I did a little bit of the Atkins concept in College when I was competing for Miss California and wanted to tone up for swimsuit competition.  It worked... but I also realize that depriving yourself of good carbs for too long can be bad for your liver and kidneys.

So I've been reading up on different diets... and I figure I'll pick from them all, like a giant buffet... try a little a this, a little of that...  Ironically enough, when I signed into my email this morning this was the headline I saw:

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/4-celeb-diets-avoid-164900197.html

All about celebrity diets.  The Dukan was something I was already interested in because of it's similarity to Atkins.  Honestly, it makes sense when I read the plan.  Oat bran helps you to feel full and helps you lose weight.... eating protein only, like the Atkins... has proven to me in the past to burn the fat reserves that go untapped.  I just don't subscribe to the theory that your proteins have to come from meats alone.  Nuts, low fat or non fat cottage cheese, egg whites... etc... I think are just as beneficial and add some variety, if not inclusion to our dairy eating vegetarian friends.

The biggest thing for me, is that I can't stand being hungry!  I have no willpower if my blood sugar drops, I am not a very pleasant person to be around!  It is in everyone's best interest that I NOT starve myself!  I am a big fan of any diet that says you can eat all you need of the right things!  Luckily for me
I actually enjoy eating the right things.  I just need to get better prepared with having the right things ready and on hand, so that when I'm hungry and feeling that bitch switch flip... I don't grab the garbage because it's easy and quick!

So anyhow, I think what I'll try first (as soon as I kick this cold to the curb) is the Protein only for a week straight... with the daily tablespoon of oat bran and I will be eating protein in egg whites and non fat cottage cheese as well, I'll avoid the nuts for the first week since you can't get fat free nuts.  Even though nuts are the 'good fat', I really don't need any extra fat right now, good or bad.  All fat is bad for me at this point!

Week two I'm going to add vegetables.  But only the one's with nutritional value.... no potatoes or starchy stuff.  Continuing with protein and the oat bran.

Week three, I'll add the healthy fruits, no bananas yet. or other fruits that are high in sugar or carbs which can be turned into fat.

Week four, whole grains will be introduced again... in moderation!

One or two days a week depending on what's needed I will do only protein to maintain... all this is subject to change of course if I don't feel or see results!  But I feel it's a healthy common sense approach for now.  I'm curious to see if it works.  I should be able to stick to it because no phase will last more than a week and I have something to look forward to adding, and soon!  I'm in impatient person and this will probably be a difficult thing for me since losing the weight will have to be gradual!

As far as the exercise goes, as Dory would say "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... swim, swim, swim"  Not a bad idea actually, whiles there's snow on the ground.... indoors of course.... but what I mean is, I'm just gonna keep on MOVING!  I am getting so antsy sitting here with a fever, writing about all I want to do!  I can't wait!!!  I will push myself physically, but not to the point of injury, just gonna wait and see how I feel.... do what I can!

That's all I've got for now, my head is foggy with this cold... so I hope it computes and makes some sort of sense!

Anyone have any experiences with dieting and cravings that they'd like to share?